The Vale Connection
by CoffeyJoe
Summary: Vale, 1989. The headlines seem to show a new murder every night, more Atlesian mobsters killed and more chaos runs amok in the city. All the while, witnesses report strange characters moving in and out of sight. For one Jaune Arc, this life is more than normal, in fact it's almost routine at this point. For Jaune Arc, this is his job, his occupation: murder (based on Hotline Miami)
1. Party Animal

A single young man roamed the halls of Beacon Academy, his blonde hair swaying slightly with his step, as the people around him chatted about their day and what they would do when they got back to the dorms. For one Jaune Arc, though, his mind was preoccupied with disturbing visions of last night, a blur of neon lights, blood, and gunfire that refused to muddle into something clear.

There were impressions, flickers of sound and video that played back in his head a hundred times over. Somewhere, deep down, he knew what had happened last night even if the news of the Atlesian mobster's death wasn't plastered on every newspaper. Over his normal Beacon uniform, Jaune's beloved Letterman jacket sat wrapped around him, stainless from the night before.

"Did you hear? Apparently that Vale-Atlas alliance thing is supposed to come true!" he heard one student whisper.

"Really? Doesn't that mean a big hit for pretty much all the businesses here? Atlas has been wanting to get into our trade market for decades now." another one whispered back scandolously.

"That's nothing, I heard Weiss's dad is going ballistic about this whole thing. Weiss hasn't looked so ragged since I've seen her."

"Yeah, it sounds pretty bad to me."

"Hey Jaune!" a cheery voice called out from behind him.

Jaune forced himself around, face slightly rattled still, to see his friend Sun Wukong coming from behind him. The monkey faunus looked a little out of place with how loose his uniform was, but by this late in the year the teachers had grown tired of disciplining him for it. The fellow blonde brushed past the younger years around him to meet his friend halfway.

"So, I heard there's going to be a little bit of a rager at Nora and Ren's dorm room tonight. You in?" Sun asked, jabbing Jaune in the ribs with an elbow.

"I can't, I have... work to do." Jaune said just a little mechanically, mind still racing to catch up.

"Work? Pfft, come on man all the hottest babes are gonna be there! You know Ren's parents set him up with that awesome suite so we can have all the space to party dude!" Sun bawled, shaking his companion back and forth.

"I'm not looking for love Sun, and I really am probably going to be busy tonight." Jaune retorted, features slack. "Besides, you only want me there for a wingman don't you?"

Sun choked on his words. "Well I- ugh, I mean I guess...?"

Jaune face did not look impressed.

"Look man! This is my best chance to woo Blake and you're, like, the only dude who'll know me well enough there! Neptune is off visiting his parents and Sage and Scarlet are on a date tonight! Please, please, please do this for me?!" Sun bowed his head, hands locked in a praying position, as he pleaded with his friend.

Jaune sighed, worst-case scenario there would be an operator waiting for him at his apartment for blowing off a mission. Best-case scenario, this could turn out to be actually kind of fun. He thought about it for a moment, he had just successfully completed his fourth job in a row so maybe they'd cut him a little bit of slack for one night.

"Fine, fine. If it'll stop your pathetic blubbering." Jaune surrendered, Sun's once prostrated form shooting up to hug his friend excitedly.

"Yes, yes, yes! I promise I'll make it up to you bro-seph. Hey, I'll be your wingman for wooing Ms. Pyrrha Nikos." Sun wiggled an eyebrow seductively causing Jaune to groan in defiance.

"Dammit Sun, you know that I'm not after her."

"Oh, I know old friend. But, I also know, and so does everyone else, that that girl is super duper into you! It'd be a crime against humanity if you let that whole thing slide without at least tapping that Nikos booty once." Sun raised his hand for a fist bump, Jaune left him hanging. "Whatever, be a stick in the mud but I assure you by the end of tonight you will be thanking me."

Maybe the operator at his apartment was the best-case scenario...

0-0-0-0

Beacon Academy, being an illustrious boarding school, allowed for students to stay in the school's dorms for most of their time enrolled. However, if you were rich enough (Pyrrha, Weiss, Ren, Coco, etc) you could buy yourself a suite and share it with up to 5 people at a time. Or, you could opt to live outside of the campus grounds and simple rent your own apartment (Jaune, Cardin, Fox, Neptune, etc).

Well, Ren's apartment was ritzy in the way only a Mistrali apartment could be. Decorations of classical Mistrali artwork and architecture filled the high ceilings and walls, the rooms and facilities made to parallel what was no doubt familiar scenery to the young Mistral royalty. Lie Ren, and by extension his "retainer" Nora Valkyrie, were living it up on Beacon's campus grounds and everyone knew it.

Jaune had always respected Ren, that calm and cool demeanor in the face of his monumental responsibility. A lot of people wanted to get in good with Mistral's newest in line for governor of Kuroyuri, but Ren never let his influence go to his head. If anything, Jaune was assured the young man would make a fine leader one day.

"Ok dude, when I go into action I need you to be my hype man, ok?" Sun asked, adjusting his nice shirt once more. "How do I look? Do you think I used to much cologne?"

"Mhmm." Jaune hummed noncommittally.

"Dude! Get your head in the game! How. Do. I. Look?" Sun asked, pulling his friend's head into his face.

"Wha-? Fine, dude relax." Jaune said, shaking himself free. "Look, I'll go test the waters for you."

Jaune walked off, looking rather out of place in his casual attire among the more influential and sparkling people around him. A simple pair of jeans, a turquoise t-shirt, red converse, and, of course, his iconic Letterman jacket decorated the young man who weaved around people in fancy dress shirts and polos. Finally, he saw her, Blake Belladonna of the Belladonna family. The Belladonnas were infamous for once spearheading a faunus rights movement and are now in control of the largest faunus-populated city in the world.

Looking behind him, Jaune saw Sun give him an encouraging nod as the faunus hid behind a potted plant. Jaune took a deep breath and sighed before waltzing over to the girl who eyed him curiously as he approached.

"Hi, you must be Blake Belladonna." Jaune said a little stiffly, now that he thought of it what was he supposed to say?

"Yeah, and you must be Jaune Arc, right? Pyrrha told me quite a lot about you." ah, that was right. The rich of the rich at Beacon were basically like one big family, or perhaps like a hive mind of some sorts.

"Did she? Well, I don't suppose you've ever heard of guy named Sun?" Jaune shifted his coat. "Because I think he'd like to talk to you."

"He would? Well, why is that?" Blake asked, quietly probing for more information.

"Well, between you and me he might have a teeny, tiny, itty, bitty, massive crush on you." Jaune joked, earning a small huff from her. "Truth be told, I've known the guy for the better half of 5 years and let me tell you, the guy isn't the worst."

"Wow, what a stunning endorsement." Blake smiled slightly.

"I know right? What else could you want in a guy?" Jaune asked. "Anyways, if you could do me a major solid and just go talk to him, I would owe you. The guy has been pestering me non stop about wanting to meet you, I think he even spent several hours trying to put on the best cologne for you."

"Hmm, well he's certainly driven." Blake chuckled. "Oh fine, if it'll get him out from behind that plant I'll humor him."

They both said their goodbyes, Jaune milling around the room rather awkwardly as people came in and out of the lavish venue. Jaune idly chattered with some of the people he sort of knew, realistically Sun and Neptune were the two people he knew the best.

He had always had issues fitting in, in his younger years he was slightly neurotic and caused a lot of people to avoid him. By the time he entered Beacon, his neurosis had developed into a serious derealization disorder. Things around him felt detached, unreal as if he were simply in a dream and nothing around him was actually happening.

Then, the phone calls started coming in.

"-Jaune!" a light voice shook him away from his idling. Pyrrha Nikos, who had a not-so-secret crush on him, looked at him worriedly, one hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok? You started really spacing out there for moment."

"Y-Yeah, I was just... thinking." Jaune shook his head. "Sorry."

Pyrrha chuckled, having changed out of her uniform and into a nice red blouse and skirt. "It's fine, in fact I was wondering if you wanted to come see a movie with me this weekend. I was thinking that new Spruce Willis one."

"I, ugh, I'm not sure-"

"He means he's not sure what he would wear!" Sun Wukong, professional bastard and terrible person, crowed as he sidled up next to him. "He would love to go, right Jaune?"

"Well, I mean-"

"Wonderful!" Sun clapped a hand on his friend's chest. "I'll help you make plans bro."

Jaune was about to argue more but stopped when he was the beaming look on Pyrrha's face. Sighing and thinking that it could be just a one-off thing, Jaune nodded and the date was set. After that, however, Jaune excused himself and went home, complaining of a headache and driving his DeLorean back to his shabby apartment where pizza boxes were stacked high next to his video game system.

Luckily, no one was waiting inside with a gun but there was the familiar red blinking light on his answering machine. Jaune reached for it but hesitated at the last minute, briefly considering to not pick up the call and perhaps he could just be done with it. However, Jaune knew that if he didn't listen to this message and do the job he'd wind up in a shallow grave by sunup.

Jaune clicked the machine and there was a loud beep before the message played.

 _"Hey there, we got a real mess over by the condos. We need you to clean it up, there's wet floors everywhere. Please, be quick about it too we have new tenants moving in soon. It's on 104th Street, go there now."_

Another beep to indicate the end of the machine, Jaune knelt down over a small box hidden in the absolute back of his locked closet. Opening the box revealed a simple chicken mask, one you might get at a party store, but to him this was his persona, his alias. Slipping it over his head, Jacket breathed deeply into the mask and, like always, contemplated his life choices. And, like always, he knew he had no choice.

This was his life, for as long as he could clearly remember his choices had always been dictated by these mysterious phone calls. One day they started coming in and they have never stopped since. Of course, like all his memories, there were faint blurs of static noise that attempted to blend together into something comprehensible, a bar, some drinks, a man, and a piece of paper. But, other than that, there was nothing.

Picking up his nifty voice recorder, Jaune clambered down the steps as quietly as possible to avoid attracting attention before hopping in his car and driving to 104th street...

0-0-0-0

The building certainly looked innocuous, he would give them that. Then again, it was innocuous in the sense that every other building looked just as drab and worn down as the red brick monstrosity he was staring into. Even so, he could hear the gaggle of scummy mobsters on the other side of the door, the lit interior giving it away as his target no doubt.

In his hand, Jacket held a baseball bat, his old Louisville slugger, and at his side was his faithful tape recorder. Breathing deeply, Jacket slowly felt that same sense of unreality overcome him, colors mashing together and the world around him devolving into a neon blur. He barely registered kicking in the door, or even how the force of it sent the unfortunate mobster in front of him flying into a table.

The others were slow, too slow to catch someone like him and by the time one of them had drawn a gun Jacket had easily clobbered two of his pals leaving a bloody streak across his mask. Jacket smacked the hand holding the gun into the air, a single shot ringing upwards and into the ceiling as the white jacketed criminal received a headache courtesy of his bat.

Overhead, the masked maniac could hear the shuffling and thumping of boots as the men above prepared themselves. Jacket picked up the pistol and hurried up the stairs, gunning down two unprepared mobsters along the way, the killer smashed the frail door off its hinges and sent the piece of wood rocketing into the face of an unfortunate man who had been guarding it.

Jacket rolled deftly underneath a hail of gunfire and matched it with a pair of precise shots that crumpled another one of the Atlesians. The remaining men in the room had begun to take cover, but not before another had fallen victim to a stray bullet. Fortunately for them, Jacket had run out of bullets, but unfortunately the chicken-masked man still held his trusty bat.

The poor criminal, with his fresh buzz cut hairdo, didn't even register what had happened as Jacket threw himself over the table he was hiding behind and crunched the man's head with a brutal swing. Whirling around, Jacket whipped the hunk of wood like a frisbee towards the criminal who had attempted to take him by surprise, and, as the trusty club crashed into the man's nose, Jacket had picked up the pistol and gunned down the currently injured man's comrade.

The mobster lay on ground, groaning in agony as his nose resembled a gnarled parody of a potato. Jacket, saying nothing, idly stalked over and mounted the man's chest with a familiar ease. Whatever the man beneath him was about to choke out was cut off as a fist wrapped into tape crashed into his head with all the force of a sledgehammer. After that, it had only taken two or three more hits before his head resembled something more akin to a crushed watermelon.

The world around Jacket surged with white noise and a neon whirlwind of colors and patterns, his mind starting to grow detached from himself. Picking the bloodied bat up, the hunk of wood warped in shape becoming large, larger than himself, no even larger than the room! The floor tilted beneath the masked killer's feet, thrown off kilter by some giant's idle pushing and with it Jacket could feel his body fall.

Round and round he tumbled through everything, a mess of colors like a drunken kaleidoscope. All the while, the unfortunate man in the jacket saw himself being drawn deeper inward to a bright world of strange feelings and sensations. Clips of conversation, idle audio and chatter, mixed with gross charicatures of people he knew and places he had been. Events play out in a sea of sickening greens and blues, and with each passing second he felt himself grow more and more distant-

His body reacted on its own, years of honed reflexes saving his life. The bullet whizzed harmlessly past, grazing his shoulder, while the suited assailant found a wrapped fist rocketing into his stomach. Jacket heard the man cough some expletive, but the man in the chicken mask could hardly be bothered to listen to him, instead he was drawn to the man's suit. Black, not white like the others which must mean he was different right? Like a video game, you know?

"Y-You fucking-" the man coughed up some spit. "Fucking animal-masked freaks! Fucking up my business, getting my ass in hot water who the fuck you think you are?!"

Jacket pulled out his tape recorder, dozens of lines recorded using a text-to-speech program. There was the mixed warbling as the tape rewound to the exact snippet he was looking for before he hit play.

 _Who are you?_ a polite, if rather emotionless, feminine voice asked over the tape.

"Me? Why the fuck do you wanna know? Fucking up my business and asking me questions..." the man grumbled, or more or less groaned, to himself.

 _Who are you?_ the question was repeated, Jacket tapping his bloodied bat onto the suited man's knee.

The mobster seemed to get the gist. "I-I'm Vincenzo Martelli you fucking freak! I run this fucking joint, who the fuck are you!?"

 _Irrelevant_

"Irrelevant? What the fuck does that mean?" the man growled.

What are you doing here?

"Fucking your mother."

The bat came down on the man's ankle, a sickening crunch resounded through the once furnished room. The Atlesian gangster howled expletives and threats at the stoic mask, threatening all sorts of nasty things.

 _What are you doing here?_

"I-I'm supposed t-to be running protection for these guys." the man breathed, watching the bat ominously. "The boss says they're important. Couple of guys in suits, said they were up from Atlas."

 _Elaborate._

"I-I don't know." the bat came of up again. "Jesus fucking christ man I swear! I fucking swear on my mother that I don't know anything!"

 _Thank you for you time._

The bat came down again, hard and fast as it caved the mobster's skull in. Jacket stumbled through the shattered door, the twilight giving him a cloak to hide from anyone watching him. He hopped into the car and sped out of the scene of the crime, the din of police sirens starting to fill the night air from far away...

0-0-0-0

Jaune stumbled through his apartment's door, taking extra caution to hide himself from view due to the numerous blood stains on his jacket. Slamming the damn thing the young man made it halfway across the floor before he felt it coming on, unable to help himself the blonde students hurled all over the shabby tile floor. Doubled over and gagging, looking into a puddle of wine coolers and pizza chunks, Jaune felt another blur of noise surround him.

Another episode, and he wouldn't be able to take it this time. Jaune stumbled into his bathroom and wrenched open the cabinet, snagging a bottle of pills he down three or four before hiding away his bloodied clothes and falling upon his bed. His room distorting into a nightmarish wonderland as sleep mercifully took hold...

 _..._

 _Tell me, do you recognize me? a familiar man in a chicken mask asked, reclining in his chair. I believe we have met before, young man._

 _"Hmm, it seems like he might be remembering something." a dainty young woman in a horse mask commented. "And yet, that look in his eyes. He may be worse off than we initially thought..."_

 _I don't know you, a suited man in an owl's mask growled. You're... not a nice person, are you?_

 _"Acknowleding one's self, means acknowledging one's actions. And, as of late, you've done some terrible things..."_

 _You don't remember me? I'll give you a clue, does April the third mean anything to you? That was the day we first met. You look like you might be remembering something..._

0-0-0-0

 _"Breaking news!"_ the anchor said, standing outside a familiar building. _"It appears that this house located on 104th street was just subject to a vicious attack by what police believe to be the same individual or individuals who have been targeting Atlesian mobsters. Reports say that there were screaming and gunshots at this location not 4 hours ago when police received the first call."_

The woman walked over to a grubby woman who sat smoking a cigarette. The anchor held the microphone over to the other woman before asking her question.

" _Ma'am, you claim that you saw the assailant leaving the scene of the crime. Can you describe them please?"_ the purple haired news anchor asked.

The woman took another long drag before answering. _"Well, I come out of my house, hearing all these damn gunshots, to see some fucking six foot motherfucking monster leaving in a sports car."_

 _"Monster? Can you please elaborate?"_

 _"I mean, it looked like a human but its head was all misshapen. Lumpy and protruding at these weird angles, it was dark out you see and my vision's not the best but I knew there was something wrong with that dude."_

 _"And you said he was leaving in a sport's car?"_

 _"Yeah, I saw him leaving in that damn thing but, like I said, I couldn't see worth a damn so I don't know what type it was."_

 _"Well, thank you for your time ma'am."_ the anchor turned back to the camera. _"There you have it folks, the investigation is still underway for whomever has been committing these atrocious crimes. The chief of police of Vale is issuing a statement on Monday, and you are encouraged to call 1-800-867-5309 if you know anything about these murders. Back to you Cyril..."_


	2. Date Night

Rays of light stabbed into Jaune's brain as he opened his eyes. Lifting himself up nauseously, Jaune winced as a cacophony of pops and cracks emanated from his back due to his sleeping position overnight. His vision was blurry and he had to force himself onto a pair of wobbly legs that seemed about to give out from under him. The young man slapped a hand to his mouth as a wave of bile rose in his throat, his head pounding like a rhythmic drum sounding out some sort of tribal dance.

He haphazardly stumbled over to the toilet and immediately voided the last few days of pizza from his stomach, his vision swimming and only adding to the agony. Like always, there were flashes, flickers of sight and sound that crashed violently around in his head the longer he dwelled on them. Without a doubt he had gotten a mission last night, the sparse bruises and more prominent sickness alluding to a night of mayhem and gore. He sunk down on his ass, the cool tile giving him some relief, it was a Saturday and that meant no school for the time being. He could keep up his facade a little longer.

It took him about an hour, but soon Jaune was stalking about his apartment, cleaning up puddles of vomit and bloody clothing, and by the time he was done he settled down into an old, flea-market sofa his uncle had gifted him for his new apartment. He tuned into the news station, a middle-aged man with a comb over giving an exciting recount to the newest breaking news headline.

 _"Another savage attacked by what the police are now dubbing- "The Party Animal Murderer". At 10:32 last night, witnesses reported gunfire and the sounds of fighting emanating from this inconspicuous building in downtown Vale. We go live to Cyril Ian, for more-"_ The camera cut to a local news anchor who stood outside the boundaries of the police tape surrounding a dreadfully familiar building.

 _"Well Roy it is a disturbing scene here today, over a dozen Atlesian mobsters found dead in this small complex last night. Paramedics confirm that the majority of injuries align with extreme blunt force trauma to the head indicating that this attack was done with simple tools."_ the young news anchor recounted. _"Witnesses claim seeing a "monster" leaving the scene of the attack in a sport's car of unknown model."_

Jaune turned off the TV, sinking down into his couch as another headache wormed its way into his head. The days after his missions were always ones filled with headaches and painful stabs of memory. Feeling the emptiness in his stomach, Jaune sighed to himself and went to go make some breakfast.

The neurotic young man sat in front of his TV, now tuned to a much more enjoyable episode of "Finding Bigfoot". He ate his bowl of cereal, a feeling of melancholy slowly washing over him.

 _Jesus Jaune, what the hell are you gonna do?_ he asked himself, not sure how he was going to sort out this whole situation. Truth be told, he didn't really even _remember_ the first phone call or the events leading up to it. He had considered the option more than once that perhaps this was all in his head, his derealization disorder was getting the better of him and turning into a schizophrenic episode.

Jaune never dwelled on those thoughts for too long, he would drive himself actually crazy before he figured out the answers. More than that, he _knew_ he wasn't the only one doing this, not since he had found that girl in the zebra mask dead on the floor during his second mission. He very much doubted this was all in his head, but the real question was "why", why on Earth would someone want to kill all these mobsters?

It didn't seem like something as simple as petty vigilantism, considering this was an organized movement to apparently wipe the Atlesian mob off the face of this city. And then of course there was that thing that gangster told him last night: _"I'm supposed to be running protection for these guys, a couple of guys in suits"._ But as far as he remembered, there wasn't anyone in a suit that stuck out to him outside of the usual riffraff that the mafia employed.

A knock at his door jolted him out of his stupor, and a pang of fear coursed through him. Did he mess up? Did the news catch wind of too much and now his employers sent someone to do away with him? No, he had kept it professional, and the news story was nothing more alarming than what he had done before, so what was it? A ludicrous thought caught him, what if they knew he was trying to uncover their ploy? He brushed it aside, as good as these guys were he doubted that they were psychics.

"Jaune, open up!" Sun's voice called out, a series of thuds echoing off the door. "Get your lazy ass up you got a date soon."

Oh shit, that's right. Pyrrha invited him out didn't she?

"Hold on you bastard." Jaune grumbled, getting off his ratty couch and opening the door. There, in a hawaiian shirt and jeans, was his old pal Sun and his other old pal, Neptune Vasilias. "Hmm, roped you in too, huh Nep?"

"Pfft," Neptune scoffed, arms folded. "As if this idiot could turn a man into a model in a few short hours, he needed my help with you."

"Woah woah woah, model? Sun I'm not sure what you think this is-" Jaune began, throwing his arms up to his friends.

"Ugh, only a movie date with the hottest girl in our year? It would besmirch my good name if you went dressed like... that." Sun said, gesturing to Jaune's baggy and disheveled appearance.

"Well relax mom, I wasn't planning on going out like this." Jaune nearly snapped, seeing his friend raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Yeah, you were gonna go out in that trashy letterman jacket no doubt." Neptune rolled his eyes, plowing his way past Jaune and into his apartment. "Christ Jaune, I think you're due for some spring cleaning unless you've turned into the spokesman for Papa John's."

"Fuck off Neptune you Sonic the Hedgehog asshole." Jaune flipped him the bird, his voice lacking any actual venom.

Neptune sighed dramatically and went searching through his wardrobe, throwing out several T-shirts and pants, scattering them upon the floor. Meanwhile Sun took the liberty to make himself some coffee and help himself to some ice cold pizza.

"For fuck's sake Jaune, if you needed money for clothes shopping I would have happily coughed something up." Neptune cried in genuine disbelief. "Classic Rock T-shirts do not count as acceptable date fashion!"

"Well excuse me I don't spend all my money of designer clothing and makeup, princess!" Jaune shot back, arms folded indignantly.

"Fuck me Sun, we gotta run to the mall and get some emergency fashion wear. How much time do we have?" Neptune cried, strutting out of his closet and throwing some apparently acceptable clothes-shopping clothes at his friend.

"We have 4 hours before he can realistically get to the theater before Pyrrha." Sun replied mechanically, checking his watch and chugging down the rest of his coffee. "If we hurry we can make it!"

"Ugh, only four hours?!" Neptune grit his teeth.

"I know to a primadonna like yourself four hours is but a mere pittance in the lives of us mortals, but we gotta go." Sun replied, grabbing ahold of Jaune and thrusting him out the door.

"Fine, I'll make due." Neptune huffed, following them out the door despite the cries of their friend.

0-0-0-0

"I can't believe you idiots dragged me out here, it's just a movie date!" Jaune sighed, exasperated as _yet another_ plaid shirt was thrust into his arms. "And how the hell do you think I'm gonna pay for this shit?"

"First off, Pyrrha is a sophisticated girl and will show up in a beautiful blouse and jean combo most likely. Something that's classy but not overly formal, something pretty you know?" Neptune chided, holding up a pair of jeans for comparison as Sun rifled through some fine sports jackets. "And second, relax I earn more than enough to buy this whole section thanks to _my_ fashion line."

 _Agh, yes I forgot that Neptune had one of those_. Jaune also almost forgot the immense rivalry he had with Coco Adel as a result of their warring brands, he remembered their first year and that dreadful bloodbath. The professional killer grumbled something as another pile of clothes was shoved into his arms and he was ushered into the changing room. While he was in there, his phone buzzed and -out of habit- checked it despite him knowing what it said.

 _A balance of $1432.67 has been deposited into your bank account by 195%F498 L!_ it read on the LED screen. Another payment by his employers for a successful mission, if they knew that did they also know he was going on a date with Pyrrha today? Granted it had been local news, but payments this fast were usually only done for rush jobs and when they needed things done fast.

Jaune frowned at the implications, the last thing he wanted was to draw a sweet girl like Pyrrha into this mess. If she got killed because she was deemed a security leak, or worse, if she discovered his mask and he would have to resort to... dire measures to ensure his identity remained anonymous. Either of these situations were varying degrees of "fucking terrible" and sure as shit didn't want to encounter either of them.

Perhaps he would just go on this one date, come home, and Pyrrha would give up when she realized he was just a walking piece of cardboard. Then she could go back to being athlete superstar, and he could go back to being sociopathic killer-

 _"You don't have a lot of faith in yourself, do you?"_ a feminine voice asked him, a ghostly whisper in his ear.

Whirling around, in the full length mirror in front of him was a woman. A woman in a green dress that went down to her thighs... and a horse mask covering up her face and most of her blonde hair. She cocked her masked face at him, a single finger tapping on the rubber.

 _"I think you're too hard on yourself, if you were truly as unempathetic as you say then you wouldn't care what happened to her either way right?"_ the vision asked, staring at him expectantly.

"I-I don't- what?" Jaune sputtered out, staring dumbly at the reflection.

 _"You need to have more faith in yourself, and your abilities. Perhaps this is a sign, a sign that your fortunes are changing. Although, whether for better or worse are yet to be seen, and I imagine that your ultimate fate falls to your choices."_ he couldn't see, but he was sure that the apparition was smiling beneath her mask if her tone was anything to go by.

"W-Who the hell are you?" Jaune whispered hoarsely, hands beginning to shake.

"-Jaune!" Sun snapped, a tan hand streaking across his face. "Snap out of it man!"

"Wha-? What happened?" Jaune asked in a daze.

"You weren't responding to us so we came in to check on you and your were just..." Sun trailed off, looking his friend up and down.

"It looked like you were talking to yourself," Neptune supplied. "Like you were in some kinda trance. We heard you talking to someone and you were just... standing there."

"Look man, if this date with Pyrrha has gotten you too shaken up Neptune and I will make an excuse to get you out." Sun promised, a hand on his fellow blond's shoulder.

"N-No I'm fine, to be honest I'm not sleeping to well these days. I must've been freaking out or something." Jaune tried to laugh it up, but only summoned a nervous chuckle.

Sun pursed his lips and frowned, placing the back of his hand on Jaune's forehead before huffing. "I guess if you feel ok, but still man don't think you gotta pressure yourself into doing this. If you're tired you can try and reschedule with Pyrrha."

"Nah Sun, I told you it's fine." Jaune said, this time giving a little stronger laugh. "Like I said, just some sleeping problems."

Sun leaned back, smiled, and nodded although Jaune could still see a strain of doubt in his eyes. Either way, he clapped his friend on the back and told him to get dressed as he had been "wasting time". When he came out, fully dressed in their outfit he was greeted with hums of approval and nods.

Jaune stood dressed in a grey button up shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbow, a pair of dark blue jeans, and a pair of black converse. He dusted himself off and looked in the mirror, surprised that he liked the outfit a lot.

"I like it Jaune, I like it a lot." Neptune agreed, whirling around him as he appraised his friend from every angle. "I think this'll be good enough for your date. Sun, how we doing on time?"

Sun checked his watch and whistled. "We need to be leaving now to get Jaune to the movie theater in time!"

With a huff, Neptune paid and ushered them out with extreme prejudice. The three of them hopping in Sun's jeep and speeding off, Jaune's old clothes laying in a paper bag courtesy of the clothing store. As they sped off towards the immaculate theater, the sun just beginning to dip downwards in the later afternoon light, Sun and Neptune decided to give their mutual friend some advice.

"So when you get there, you greet her with a smile and maybe a wave. I would avoid hugging immediately because that might be too strong-" Neptune tutored him, his eyes more focused on Jaune than the road.

"-Make sure you compliment her looks, especially her outfit she probably spent a lot of time working on it." Sun mentioned, Neptune nodding along sagely. "Offer your arm to her, it's gentlemanly and will impress her."

"Other than that, be yourself and be funny! Women love humor!" Neptune said, continually being a menace to traffic.

"Oh right, and don't mention your killing hobby!" Sun added on.

Jaune snapped his attention to Sun, eyes burning a hole through his head. "What was that?"

"U-Ugh, what was what?" Sun replied nervously, leaning back.

"W-What you just said!" Jaune stammered out a reply.

"Ugh, dude, all I said was don't mention how you only eat pizza." Sun responded, cocking an eyebrow at his friend. "Jesus, man I think we need to take him home Neptune."

"I'm fine, I just gotta... Get a grip y'know?" Jaune shook his head, chocking it down to a simple slip of the brain. He was being too paranoid, all the lack of sleep and schoolwork wasn't probably meshing well with killing mobsters and neuroticism.

Eventually they pulled up to the theater, a few guests starting to funnel in. Sun peered between the two people in front of him with a huge smirk on his face.

"Good luck chief, we'll be hear to pick you up and absorb all the juicy details when this is all over!" Sun's shit eating grin only grew wider as Jaune glared at him. "Have fun!"

Neptune booted him out of the car, a similar shit eating grin on his own face. "Oh, and remember to not be silly and always wrap your willy!"

Jaune flashed him the most venomous middle finger he could muster as his two friend howled in laughter as they skidded away, leaving Jaune alone to wait for his date...

0-0-0-0

"You look, ugh, great Pyrrha!" Jaune complimented his date as she strolled up to him. And it wasn't a lie, she did indeed look about as stunning as any model he had ever seen, only more homely.

Pyrrha wore (as Neptune predicted) a light pink blouse, a pair of skinny jeans, and a of sandals with an expensive designer jean jacket over top. The redhead blushed and fiddled with her purse, not making eye contact with her date who rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet awkwardly.

"Soooo, I guess this is the part where we watch the movie, huh?" Jaune smiled, causing Pyrrha to giggle as she took his arm and they walked inside.

The movie itself was pretty good, it was funny he didn't consider Pyrrha much into superhero movies let alone something as cheesy as X-Ray and Vav. Even so, Pyrrha seemed to derive genuine joy as she watched the dynamic duo beat up on crime. Afterwards the young couple filed out of the building, laughing and talking about the show they had just watched.

"Did you see that fight scene with the Mad King Jaune!" Pyrrha beamed, aglow with childlike wonder. "It was so well executed! And the dialogue all around was amazing, and the humor was fantastic!"

Jaune listened to her talk about her enjoyment of the movie, and he had to agree. For being a cheesy superhero movie, it was pretty good for the time being, it was worth the seven bucks for entry. After she had calmed down a bit, Pyrrha let out a satisfied breath and turn on her heel to her date.

"Well Mr. Arc you have been a terrific gentleman to me this evening, perhaps we could do it again sometime?" she asked, a pleasant smile on her face.

Despite every instinct to tell her no, to tell her to just leave this ill-fated man to his doom. Jaune took her hand and smiled dramatically. "If you insist Lady Nikos, I look forward till then!"

She giggled and whapped him with her purse, drawing out a chuckle from him. As he walked her to her car, Jaune noticed that she had laid her head on his shoulder and had begun to close her eyes. At this rate he wondered if she would even make it home before falling asleep, but, to his surprise, when they got to her car she jumped up and landed a solid kiss on his cheek.

Jaune blinked in surprise, his face heating up as Pyrrha unlocked her car, giving only a mischievous wink as she got into her vehicle and started. She waved at him and he reflected it dumbly, one hand still over the cheek she had kissed. He chuckled to himself and gave a solid fist pump, doing a small victory dance before turning around to wait for his friend.

It was then he saw a couple of fucking chumps sitting in a silver jeep, a pair of massive smiles on their faces as they nodded their heads in approval. He rolled his eyes and sighed, hopping into his friend's jeep and as soon as he did he was bombarded with cheers, fist bumps, and high fives. Sun rocked Jaune's seat as he hooted and hollered, as Neptune equally punched his friend's shoulder.

"What did we tell you man!" Sun said, continuing to shake Jaune. "I told you that this was gonna be worth it!"

"Did she ask you out again, beta boy?" Neptune inquired, face split into an ever widening smile.

"Yes she did you fucking tards, so go ahead and feel jealous of my raw sexual power." Jaune taunted, arms splayed wide as though he were basking in sunlight. "Perhaps you two will someday rise above being celibate monks and feel the kiss of a woman."

"Calm down Cupid, she kissed you on the cheek she didn't jerk you off." Sun waved Jaune off. "And don't be getting full of yourself because Blake and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night!"

"Only because I set you up." Jaune reminded him, nudging his side with an elbow.

To that Sun only grunted and had Neptune start the car, the trio of hooligans peeling off into the night to celebrate. Eventually they landed themselves in some dive bar as they chatted up over some mixed drinks. After the entire evening, Jaune had forgotten his earlier misgivings and gladly toasted to his moderate romantic success. After he had been dropped off, the young man stumbled into his apartment, slightly buzzed but not hammered.

He had just taken off his shirt when he heard the floorboards creak behind him, a pang of pure dread shot through him. His visions of another operator visiting his house becoming frightfully real as he whirled around to see what it was. But, instead of a fellow animal masked assassin, he found something much worse. Sitting in one of his few reclining chairs was the man in the chicken mask from his dreams earlier, only alone this time.

 _"We need to talk, Jaune."_ he stated, his voice having a strange hum to it. _"I've come here to speak with you about some things."_

"Nah, no way. You're in my head, like everything else." Jaune said, backing away.

 _"I'm as real as you make me, but what I'm here to talk to you about_ is _real Jaune, that's why it's so important."_ the man is the chicken masked adjusted himself. _"But I suppose I should introduce myself, I am Richard. You have already met my comrades, the lovely Don Juan and the acerbic Rasmus."_

"What the fuck are you talking about." Jaune hissed, fists now balled up in anger. "How about you get the fuck out of my apartment."

 _"How can I? I'm not really here, just in your head remember?"_ Richard replied, annoyingly literal. _"But I digress, this is about your -ahem- employers..."_

"What about them?"

 _"You and I both know this is a losing game Jaune, either they send you out on one too many missions or you try and quit and they silence you. The only way you're getting out of this, is if you discover who they are."_ Richard spoke calmly, his legs crossed.

"Who says I want to find out? Sounds like more trouble than it's worth." The blonde man spat back, eyes narrowed.

The hallucination shifted. _"There are too many holes here Jaune, where are the other operators? What are they doing, and, more importantly, who exactly are they? How did you come into working for them, you can't remember, can you?"_

Jaune said nothing, partially due to the fact Richard was spot on. He had yet to meet another living agent, and he had no discernible memories of when or how exactly he signed up with these people. Perhaps he didn't sign up at all.

 _"Ah, but I see that not all is lost. Look deep within you Jaune, you recognize me don't you?"_ and, is if on cue, Jaune was washed over with a flood of emotions and sparks of memories.

 _ **Bars... Nightclubs... A man... He's handing me a mask... An address...**_

Jaune collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air as he choked on nothing. When his eyes reached over the table, he noticed that "Richard" was gone, nothing to even signify he had been there in the first place. Stumbling over to the medicine cabinet, Jaune felt the world around him melt again, his heart hammering in his chest and the feeling of dread that had been sitting in his stomach bubbling up.

He wrenched open the medicine cabinet, grabbed a bottle of pills and downed a few. Not bothering to try and get into bed, Jaune merely laid down on the shag carpeting of his apartment and fell asleep. And, for the first time in months, he slept peacefully...

0-0-0-0

 **So! What the hell is this right? Well I love Hotline Miami 1 and 2 so much I decided to make a story about it, involving my favorite blonde boy Jaune! Since Hotline Miami doesn't really _have_ a complete story, I'll need to fill in the blanks and mesh some of my own made up garbage with the actually stuff from the games. Expect some parts to not make quite enough sense at points, which, if you've played the game, should feel pretty darn familiar.**

 **It's been awhile since I tried to make a story, maybe I'll get around to finishing this one. Anyways, review and rate like always my precious espresso beans!**

 **XOXOXO**

 **CoffeyJoe**


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